


Wakening

by hollowmagic



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Genre: Beaches, CPR, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Crash Landing, Fainting, Gen, Is he really a hero?, Marin saves the hero, Near Death, Panic, Panic Attacks, Passing Out, Prequel, Resuscitation, Saving lives, cardiac arrest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 07:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21133259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollowmagic/pseuds/hollowmagic
Summary: Marin takes a walk down to the beach and discovers a dead body.





	Wakening

"Sleepyhead," Marin giggles, watching Tarin snore away in dreamland. Quietly, she wrote a note saying she will be down at the beach if he needs her, and left it on his nightstand. Marin dresses herself, grabs a pineapple, and silently leaves her house, being welcomed by the sunlight outside.

She waves hello to BowWow, the neighbor's pet, and feeds him the pineapple. BowWow yips with glee and nuzzles Marin, but she says goodbye and scurries out of there before the neighbor could scold her for feeding BowWow such things.

Marin arrives at the beach after passing two boys playing with a ball. The sand seeps into her sandals and tickles her feet. The virtuous brown-haired girl admires the rolling waves as she stares at them, hardly paying attention to where she is going, as if entranced by Poseidon's charm. Standing on her tip-toes, she tries to peer over the horizon's curve, even though she has failed multiple times in the past.

Perhaps one day, she will be tall enough to see the other side.

Marin smiles sadly. There _is_ something over there, isn’t there…? Surely this little island cannot be the only thing that exists…

Something odd catches the girl's eye, and she tilts her head at it. There, floating alone on the shore, is a piece of driftwood. Had the storm that took place the night before been so powerful, it struck a tree…?

Marin goes to fetch the piece when something else catches her attention. She squints at it, and there, right before her eyes, lying still on the shore, is...

A..._person…_?

She gasps and rushes to their side, completely abandoning the driftwood. The person — a boy — has his eyes closed and mouth open, not moving. _He's passed out…!_

"Oh, no…!" Marin panics. She has no idea what she should do…! She has never come across this before!

And just like that, a memory pops into her head—

"_CPR consists of thirty chest compressions and two breaths per minute," Tarin tells her. "Call for help if a professional is not around, okay, Marin?"_

"_Okay!" _

_Tarin chuckles and pats little Marin's head. "You'll be a famous lifesaver one day!"_

Marin dives into action. Trembling hands grip the boy's chin and forehead, pushing them back and opening the airway. She leans in close, listening carefully for something, even through the deafening pounding of her heartbeat. There is nothing, he is not breathing — _oh__ God, he's not breathing, he's not breathing, oh God—_

No more time is wasted and she carefully closes her mouth over his and shoves air into his lungs, watching to see if his chest moves upward — _one, two — _another breath — _one, two._ Marin then peels off his green clothing and carefully aligns the heels of her palms over his chest, starting the compressions.

"I'll save you…!" she whimpers, counting silently in her head. _Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten... “_Don't, please, don't die…! Live!" She has never felt this scared before, every part of her body is shaking. Just looking at the boy's pale face and calm expression makes her want to yell for help.

_But there's no one else here! I'm the only one who can...!_

"Wake up, please…! Please, please, wake up…! Please…!"

Through her pleading, she reaches thirty and checks for breathing again. There's still nothing, so she leans down once again, covering his mouth with hers, and heaves a more powerful breath into his lungs. His chest rises, _one, two, _she breathes again, _one, two._ Marin frantically starts the second set of compressions, and when she reaches twenty...

He _sputters…!_

It frightens her at first, literally making her yelp, but a massive wave of relief, larger than the ones she would watch at dusk, washed over her once she saw him react. Marin releases the breath she had not known she was holding and quickly turns the boy's head to the side. He coughs and vomits out water, sucking air into his body heavily.

Marin finally realizes she is crying. She did not think she would actually...

_Oh, thank God, thank God…!_

The boy's eyes snap open and dart around in wild confusion as he coughs out more of the seawater. Marin calms him quietly, "You're okay…! You're okay! You-you’re safe now…! You're alright…"

His eyes pause on her, staring at her, blinking at her. The hand on his forehead rubs it gently, trying to get the message through. Marin smiles nervously at him, wondering if he has any idea what is going on. However, before she could ask, the boy succumbs to the overwhelming panic and passes out on the sand once more.

The girl shrieks again and instinctively checks for breathing, and thankfully, he is. Marin sighs in relief and collapses right next to him, panting. Like a man descending to Earth, the horror-inducing, terrifying panic in her heart slowly faded into nothing. Her trembling hands block the sun as she stares at them, arms weak from pushing into the boy's chest so hard.

Then she just...contemplates what she had just done. It is a miracle, she thought, it is a miracle he's still alive. With her own two hands, with such basic knowledge, she managed to perform CPR and save the life of some stranger…

_Stranger…_

Marin jolts up and stares at the boy again, astonishment in her eyes. Stranger…?! The word processes in her mind before she fully understood it.

Who _is_ this stranger…?! She has never seen him on Koholint Island before...did…

Marin turns to the sea and stares longingly at the distant horizon. Did this stranger...come from the other side…?

"_Sorry, Marin, but," Tarin pauses for a moment, "there ain't anything across those waters."_

_The little girl frowns and does not reply as Tarin pats her head. She doesn't believe it. Not at all, how could she? There has to be _something! _Anything! A rock, a tree, hell, even a speck of land! There cannot possibly be nothing but Koholint Island, she knows it! _

"_One day," she starts, sighing, "I'll grow up and find something!"_

"_Marin…" she can hear the resentment in Tarin's voice._

The girl feels her heart skip a beat.

"Oh…" she covers her mouth to hide her growing smile, "oh…! Oh my gosh…!" She _needs_ to tell Tarin!

  
She gets up and scoops the boy into her arms, surprised to find that he is lighter than he looks. However, she feels something metal behind the boy's back. She decides to ignore it, because then she sees a sharp, shining sword on the sand, right where he had passed out.

_An adventurer…_

Marin…thought they only existed in story books. Did this one come to deliver a message? With curiosity eating at her, she takes off with the stranger in her arms toward Mabe Village, telling the two boys to move out of the way. Both of them look startled when they see an unconscious body with her.

The girl enters Mabe Village yelling for help, catching the attention of an old woman and BowWow. They, too, look frightened at what she is carrying. She suddenly bursts into her house shouting, "Tarin! Tarin! Wake up!" and practically scaring Tarin awake.

He jolts up out of bed, "M-Marin! Wha-What happened?!"

Marin rushes to her own bed and carefully sets the body down, panting. "Tarin, look!"

The man rubs his eyes to get a better look at what he is seeing right now. Do his eyes deceive him…? Wha- just who-?

"Marin, who is this…?"

"I- I don't- Tarin, he- I found him at- at the beach," she keeps her eyes on the boy's face as words spill from her lips, "he wasn't breathing, s-so I...I just...I did the thing, with- with the breaths and chest stuff- I…"

Tarin found himself astounded. He comes closer to inspect the stranger. "Marin...you saved his life…?"

"I hope so…!" she squeals.

The man feels for the boy's pulse. It's beating heartily against his thumb, and he is left in shock at the scene. "He's alive…" A glint catches his eye under the boy, and carefully, he lifts the body up to grab the item.

"Tarin, what are you-?"

"...What's this?" Tarin finds himself holding a blue shield with many intricate designs on the front. "A...shield?"

"A shield…" Marin mumbles. "Tarin...at the beach, there was a sword there, too…! I think he's an adventurer who's come to tell us something! He came from across the sea! There _is_ life out there, Tarin!" Her joyous cheers made a racket in the home, and that is when-

The body stirs.

Marin and Tarin freeze in place, watching the body toss and turn in bed. His expression is painful, like he is enduring something extreme. His hands grip the sheets. Marin is entranced in his movements as if he's an otherworldly alien.

He starts to settle down, his limbs go limp, face calm, eyes twitching, and then-

_He awakens._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
